“Focus on: China, Safeguarding and Developing Opportunities for UK Business Schools” – workshop in London
On 1 May 2019, sponsored by the Confucius Institute at the University of Southampton, a Chartered Association of Business Schools international workshop, “Focus on: China, Safeguarding and developing opportunities for UK business schools” was held at the London Institute of Banking and Finance. Seven speakers from the British Council, the China-Britain Business Council and different UK business schools with around 30 recruitment managers, associate deans, directors of internationalisation and marketing directors from UK universities were present at the workshop and actively participated in the Q&A and discussion sessions.
Fraser Deas, Head of Education Services at the British Council China, provided the latest information in his presentation on maintaining student recruitment and business partnerships and an overview of current student recruitment and partnership trends in China. He also examined the current opportunities in the market and explored how to develop a strategy to remain competitive and successful in China.
Nathalie Cachet-Gaujard, UK Director of Education and Innovation at the China-Britain Business Council, presented on “China – policies and drivers – impact on higher education” with an overview of China’s major economic policies and how these feed into China’s education strategy.
Professor Roman Matousek, Director of Global Centre for Banking and Financial Innovation at Nottingham University Business School, presented on “Trends and future development of the Chinese market for student recruitment”, which provided a comprehensive investigation of the potential decline in Chinese student recruitment. The discussion was supported by statistical evidence that Chinese students are becoming more selective in their choice of HEIs in the UK, and examined a number of factors.
Four case studies based on UK business schools in China were shared at the workshop. Andrew Halford, Deputy Dean of the Oxford Brookes Business School,talked about “Setting up a programme partnership and the next stage in expanding collaborative provision”, focused on understanding the journey for creating a successful ongoing relationship with a Chinese university. Liz Crolley, Associate Dean of University of Liverpool Management School, gave a presentation on “Addressing the challenges of collaboration in new developments in China”. Dr Josie McLaren, Head of the Accounting and Finance Subject Group within Newcastle University Business School, discussed strategies for setting up and developing a partnership relationship with a Chinese university – Xiamen University and highlighted factors to be considered. In his session, Professor Marco Mongiello, Associate Dean (International) in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at University of Surrey, focused on the lessons learned from a decade and a half long joint venture between a UK business school and a Chinese university.
“China is a major recruitment market for Southampton Business School and throughout UK Business Schools. A large number of international students in UK business schools are from China, providing a significant income stream to the schools. China is one of the biggest countries for talent coming through, and an important country for business schools. As China is already an established and valuable market, we investigated different angles in the conversations at our workshop, and how we protect that market for the UK business schools.” Professor Martin Broad, Head of the Southampton Business School and Chair of the Chartered ABS International Committee said.
This workshop provided opportunities for networking and sharing common problems and best practice as well as examining trends such as the increasing attractiveness and prestige of business schools within China and worldwide, and how these can be incorporated into business schools' international strategies.